German Published patent Application No. 197 46 410 discloses a protective device in which, in the event of electrostatic discharge (ESD), a vertically positioned transistor diode is made conductive by way of a lateral depletion-layer contact effect or “punch-through effect.” In the protective device described therein, however, the breakdown voltage is typically twice as great as the “snapback voltage,” i.e. the minimum voltage that must be present after breakdown between collector and emitter to ensure that the diode remains conductive.